Snopes Caught Lying For Their Friends At CNN

Snopes has been caught lying for their media friends at CNN, debunking claims that embarrass and expose the U.S. news network to the public.

The Facebook fact-checking organization recently “debunked” claims that CNN had staged a scene during one of their news broadcasts that involved Muslim protestors protesting the recent London Bridge terror attack.

Snopes released their article claiming that the CNN staging of the London protesters was false. Their reasoning is that it’s “normal” for this kind of a thing to happen.

They gave this quote by Mediaite:

For those not familiar with live news production, it is actually not that uncommon for hosts and producers to arrange protesters or pedestrians behind reporter to provide a varied background. Sources familiar with this live shoot tell Mediaite that the protesters (“Muslim Mothers”) were already very near the location and the Police simply allowed them to move behind Ms. Anderson and crew.

That said, there is reason to fairly critique this as “editorializing” the shoot and not just reporting the news. And in a climate where CNN is feeling a lot of criticism — most of which is unfounded — from the conservative corners of the Internet, this footage won’t help their cause.

This is our problem with journalism and why more people just want to see live events as they are happening. It’s also unethical to arrange protesters or anyone in any kind of fashion. You can see it in the video where they tell them exactly where to stand. How do we know the entire thing wasn’t from a bunch of paid protesters with pre-made signs? That is the problem as we don’t know. We just have their word. We know there was an actual event but how do we know these individuals were from the event and not paid?

CNN’s statement is also full of it.

This story is nonsense. The group of demonstrators that was at the police cordon was being allowed through by officers so they could show their signs to the gathered media. The CNN crew along with other media present simply filmed them doing so.

No, they were not being let in to just “show” their signs to the media. The actual video shows them setting up the scene, showing the protesters where to stand and how they should look. They staged the entire thing.

I underlined the parts that directly apply to the context of what CNN did. This information below is from the NPAA Code of Ethics:

In the video, you can actually hear as the CNN reporter is talking about how they just gathered there. No, they were “allowed” in and put in specific spots. That. Is. Fake.

This last quote from Snopes is just flat out wrong.

The charge that CNN or anyone else “staged” the event to “hype a narrative of widespread Muslim opposition” to the attacks is a politically motivated mischaracterization of what occurred.

The event was real from the reports I was reading. However, CNN wanted to bring them over to a specific spot and have them gather in one tiny area to frame the perfect shot. You don’t do that. You film the event live and just talk to the people. That is what real journalism would look like. How long has CNN been staging these kinds of things? Do I need to bring up Sandy Hook when they showed aerial footage of a different school because it showed cops running into it? All about ratings and framing the perfect narrative. Is journalism and honest reporting dead to the mainstream media? I will leave it with a video from Alex Jones where he interviews Mark Antro, the man that filmed the entire incident and then follow up with Mike Cernovich.